I recently purchased an old postcard of the house I remember from my childhood as where the man who farmed the land behind our house lived. The card is postmarked 27th April 1908 and was signed by an R. A. Rouse. The 1911 census records the residents of the house as Frederick Rouse, who was a chauffeur, and his wife Rose Anna. So it seems safe to assume that this was the R. A. Rouse who sent the postcard in 1908.
The postcard says it was “The Lodge, Radford” so, judging by its location, it must have originally been the lodge to Radford House, which was demolished in the late 1960s. Godfrey Close was then built on the site.
Entrance
This raised the question as to where the main entrance to Radford House actually was. I had always assumed it was off the main village road, now known as Lewis Road and more or less opposite St. Nicholas Road. This postcard, however, suggests it was actually via the now overgrown track that runs alongside the recreation ground at the top of School Lane / Spring Lane. Unfortunately, none of the maps I consulted made it clear where the main gate was.
Almost as an afterthought I looked at the building regulation plans of the former Warwick Rural District Council now held at the County Record Office. These include the original plans for the lodge,1 which was built in 1902. These plans show the lodge was indeed built next to a gateway to Radford House. However, there are also plans for an extension to Radford House itself dating from 1897,2 and these show a gateway out onto what is now Lewis Road. So again it is not really clear where the main gate was.
Any photographs?
I have been unable to locate any photographs of Radford House. However, there is a note in a book on the history of Radford Semele that says the front of the house looked across the fields to Whitnash and Leamington. This would seem to confirm that the main entrance to Radford House was reached via School Lane with the entrance on to Lewis Road being the “tradesman’s entrance”.
Radford House disappeared and the site was built on. The farmland behind my home, along with the Coventry Radiators (CovRad) factory, disappeared under housing in the mid-1970s, so obscuring part of the view across to Leamington. The remainder of the view will disappear when the field in front of the lodge is built on. The lodge is due for demolition in early 2018.
References
1 Warwickshire County Record Office reference CR2487/box95/572.
2 Warwickshire County Record Office reference CR2487/box 95/566.
Comments
My family and i were the last to live at The Lodge , Radford Semele . We moved out 2014. We loved that house, there was such a good feeling that house gave off. Sadly we had to move out. The Lodge is going to be knocked down, very sad to know it will be gone x
I have lived in Radford my entire life and and now at the age of 24 have recently moved back with my partner. I was speaking with my grandad about the history of village and he mentioned there was a big manor in the village when he was a young boy. I always wondered why there was just a singular house sat in the corner of the park and it now makes sense. Real shame there is no photos, I would have loved to seen the manor.
I live in the corner house in Godfrey Close adjacent to where the lodge was (now demolished). I can confirm that the gateway to the drive leading to Radford House was definitely located at the bottom of my garden. While digging holes to put in fence post some years ago, I discovered both of the brick pillars that supported the gates.
I grew up in Radford 1956 to 1966 a soldier and his family lived there in the 50s. We played in the derelict Radford House and the grounds had some wonderful trees and orchard.
The soldier was Harry Plumb, Royal Tank Regiment. After the war he owned a successful shop fitting business in Leamington. He retired to Poole in the late 1960s.
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